"I AM" the Good Shepherd

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Eastertide

Thomas Carlyle, a British essayist who lived a little more than 200 years ago, built a soundproof chamber in his home. He wanted to shut out all the noises of the street so that he could work in uninterrupted silence. It worked, except for one piercing sound which penetrated through the soundproof walls. His neighbor had a rooster that was given to vigorous expression several times at night and once at dawn. Carlyle would sit, pen in hand, distracted from thought and expression, waiting for that disturbing sound. Finally, he protested to the owner of the rooster who responded that the rooster only crowed three times at night and once at dawn. “But,” said Carlyle, “if you only knew all the worry I suffer waiting for that rooster to crow.”

We laugh, but how very much like our lives today. There is no soundproof, people proof, danger proof chamber into which we can escape. Even if we could, we would take private enemy number one with us – worry. There is no place to hide from the universal sickness of worry. We carry it around inside ourselves. We anticipate, expect, and wait for the invasion of distracting difficulty.

Worry is thinking turned toxic, the imagination used to picture the worst. The word “worry” comes from a root word meaning to choke or strangle. What an incisive insight! Worry does choke and strangle our creative capacity to think, hope, and dream. It twists the joy out of life.

Worry changes nothing except the worrier. The distressing habit of worry is impotent to change tomorrow or to undo the past. All it does is sap today of strength.

What are we worried about right now? A. J. Cronin, a distinguished author-physician, sorted out the things that people worry about this way: Things which never happened – 40%. Things in the past that cannot be changed – 30%. Health worries – 12%. Petty miscellaneous worries – 10%. Real legitimate worries – 8%. It does absolutely no good to admonish ourselves and others with the oft-repeated advice, “Stop worrying!” We are so conditioned to worry that the admonition makes us worried about being worried! Worry takes charge of our minds before we know it. We cannot will ourselves to stop worrying. The compulsive response to life is ingrained in our brains.

At its core, worry is a form of agnosticism. Shocking? Perhaps. But look at it this way. Worry is rooted in a question about the adequacy of God to meet our own and others’ needs. It is nourished by a fear that there may be problems and perplexities in which we will be left alone, out on a limb without God.

However, let us not be simplistic. Worry is very real. I experience it, and so do you. Mental anguish causes emotional distress and physical discomfort. It’s no joke when people say, “I’m worried sick!” Is it possible to be healed of the sickness of worry? Can we find a solution to the disturbing disquiet? The answer to these questions lies in the statement that Jesus makes in today’s Gospel text: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Catch the impact of that. Picture it in your mind. Jesus stands between us and whatever causes us worry. There is a liberating assurance in this statement. Jesus is God with us. Like a prescription given to us by a physician, the promise made to us by Jesus can free us from worry. A companion Scripture to this “I AM” statement appears in the letter to the Hebrews: “God has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’ Hence, we can confidently say, ‘the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can anyone do to me?’”

The word “forsake” means to disown, leave completely, abandon, desert, and reject. This is the one thing that God will never do. We belong to God, now and for all eternity. It is this assurance which enables us to offer our worry to him and to say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.” When you find yourself plagued by worry, try a simple breathing exercise. As you inhale, say, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.” Then as you exhale, say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.”

The Good Shepherd can heal our worries about the past (which cannot be undone), about the future (which may not ever happen), and worries about people, my health, and about finances. No matter what people think of us, no matter how ill I become, no matter how dire my financial situation, God will never fail or forsake us. God is our helper; we need not be afraid. Jesus is our Good Shepherd.